Heliograph's Space 1889 Resource Site

Role-Playing In A More Civilized Time. Everything Jules Verne should have written. Everything H. G. Wells could have written. Everything A. Conan Doyle thought of, but never published because it was too fantastic. Everything you need for adventures of the century! The Space 1889 role-playing game covers the exciting background of Victorian science fiction: ether flyers and Martian cloudships, the canals and ancient civilizations of the red planet, Venus' swamps and dinosaurs, the honeycombed interior of Luna, and the thrills of inventions and inventors: the driving force behind Victoria's multiworld empire!

Space 1889 is Frank Chadwick's registered trademark for his game of Victorian Era Space Faring. Originally published twenty years ago by GDW, Space 1889 is the original "steam punk" game, even though it pre-dates the term by a couple of years.

GDW produced a large range of books, miniatures, and board games for Space 1889 from 1989 to 1991. In 1999, Heliograph reprinted most of that work, and now releases the first new material for Space 1889 in almost two decades: The Complete Canal Priests Of Mars. Even more exciting, later this year Pinnacle Entertainment will release the all-new all-color hardback Savage Worlds Space 1889: Red Sands, a Plot Point campaign and conversion of Space 1889 to the popular Savage Worlds system.

The aim of this site is to provide pointers for in print, officially licensed Space 1889 material for fans to explore. This page is setup as one long page to facilitate printing. "Downloads" connects to errata and a character sheet, and "Misc Links" leads to other material you might enjoy if you like Space 1889.

A Must Read For Space 1889 Fans!

The Forever Engine
Baen books just released Frank Chadwick's The Forever Engine, a must-read for Space 1889 fans. A soldier from our near future is accidentally sent back to Chadwick's Space 1889 alternate history. Chadwick's updating of the setting alone would make it required reading for Space 1889 fans, but the book itself makes a great action adventure read.

Space 1889 & Beyond

New Space 1889 fiction is now available from Untreed Reads. Frank Chadwick will contribute volume #5, A Prince Of Mars. See Andy Frankham-Allen's blog for more info about the first volume along with a free sample!

Frank Chadwick's Space 1889 Blog

Free! Introduction To Space: 1889

Now available as a free PDF, the Introduction to Space: 1889 is a 16 page booklet originally found in the Sky Galleons of Mars boxed game. Download it from Drive Thru RPG or e23.

Free! The Original GDW Canal Priests of Mars!

As a teaser for The Complete Canal Priests of Mars, we're making GDW's original version of Canal Priests of Mars free from Drive Thru RPG and e23! If you like it, please consider the Heliograph version, which restores a third of the original manuscript and contains all new art and graphics!

Print titles are available from Amazon or by
special order from your local bookshop. Due to print
production restrictions, Heliograph combined some
of the books originally published by GDW into double
titles. For additional info on purchasing these books,
see http://www.heliograph.com/buy.shtml. The links below go to the specific book's entry.

The Complete Canal Priests Of Mars restores the third of Marcus Rowland's original manuscript cut by GDW to fit their 64-page adventure format, along with helpful handouts and all new art by Paul Daly. It is an excellent introductory adventure for Space 1889, and should appeal to long time fans and people new to Space 1889.

This book combines the printed matter from
the Sky Galleons of Mars and Cloudships And
Gunboats boxed games. Everything you need to
design and battle flying ships over Mars, including
many ship designs with detailed deckplans.

Colonial era naval miniatures warfare, with the
twist of Space 1889's flying ships and other Victorian
science fiction elements included. It also includes
detailed fleet listings for the nations of Earth in
1889, along with campaign rules for what-if naval
conflicts.

Conklin's Atlas Of The Worlds And Handy Manual
Of Useful Information covers the worlds of Space
1889, while Cloud Captains Of Mars concentrates
on the Casablanca of Mars and the piratical Cloud
Captains that call it home.